Intrawest To Sell European Properties

bandit wrote:Tony, your experience would have been common to all French rental agencies. That's the way they work, and the French nation on holiday seem to enjoy it. As for VT, hmmmmm, been there, wrote up the experience.... :evil:

http://docs.google.com/View?docID=0AV5AccVCaUcjZGZ4a2tiZHRfNmY1d3c2bWhw&revision=_latest

I will never return.

Without wanting to suggest your experience was tainted by the injury, that was a horrendous report. Did you get any response to it?
I certainly dont remember any such issues with the resort like you experienced, but I was horrified by the arrival procedure at P&V. I learned to ski there, so my experience was much different to yours, but I remember the crossing well!!!! It was like playing chicken on a high speed inter city level crossing on the east coast main line in the middle of the night.

Tony,
Actually it was very generous of them, because all the apartments we've been in have big notices telling you not to keep your skis and boots in your room, and threatening dire punishments if you do.
And, in fact, that particular apartment was meant for 6 people, and there were only 2 of us, so we had a whole spare bedroom to use as the ski and boot room.

Ally

Tony_H wrote:

Without wanting to suggest your experience was tainted by the injury, that was a horrendous report. Did you get any response to it?
I certainly dont remember any such issues with the resort like you experienced, but I was horrified by the arrival procedure at P&V. I learned to ski there, so my experience was much different to yours, but I remember the crossing well!!!! It was like playing chicken on a high speed inter city level crossing on the east coast main line in the middle of the night.

Actually, there was more to our memorable week in VT. For example, the door to our apartment had been kicked in some time prior to our arrival, and the repair had been undertaken with steel flooring plate. Two hands were needed to open the door and with a broken collar bone, I was trapped in or out :roll:
Some of the faeces outside the door to our apartment block did not look like dog mess :shock:

From the French Govt' Tourism Office in London, no response.

From the Mayor's office in VT, a letter telling me, all about how they were very happy with the way things were and would not be changing anything, especially the Cabinet Medical and piste rescue services operation.

From the Ski Area Mgmt, a letter calling my OH a liar for him saying he saw a member of their staff ski away on my skis just as he was going to pick them up at the accident scene. So, we are supposed to believe that the ski of choice for a VT pisteur is a Women's Rossi Bandit Light, yeah right :roll:

Bandit,
I've just read your account of Val Thorens. It does indeed sound as though you had an awful time. It seems as though VT has a partying/drinking reputation and some people go there to join in with these activities. The first time we went there we also heard drunks wandering about and singing/shouting in the middle of the night, but the second time we went there I picked a quieter apartment block.

I had read similar stories to yours about the insurance problem, and in fact although I had UK Post Office ski insurance I paid the few pounds extra for the Carre Neige insurance sold with the lift pass. I have a very vivid imagination and I could visualize myself or my daughter lying injured on a slope somewhere and the stretcher/helicopter refusing to take us without masses of cash or the Carre Neige insurance.

It's amazing that you never got an apology from the VT tourist board, or the ski lift operators. I spent quite some time, after I got back, filling in their on-line customer satisfaction survey, so it does seem as though they do care, but they still have problems within the resort.

Did you ever get the name of the person who collided with you? Or did they get away scot-free?

I hope you fully recovered,

Ally

bandit wrote:

Tony_H wrote:

Without wanting to suggest your experience was tainted by the injury, that was a horrendous report. Did you get any response to it?
I certainly dont remember any such issues with the resort like you experienced, but I was horrified by the arrival procedure at P&V. I learned to ski there, so my experience was much different to yours, but I remember the crossing well!!!! It was like playing chicken on a high speed inter city level crossing on the east coast main line in the middle of the night.

Actually, there was more to our memorable week in VT. For example, the door to our apartment had been kicked in some time prior to our arrival, and the repair had been undertaken with steel flooring plate. Two hands were needed to open the door and with a broken collar bone, I was trapped in or out :roll:
Some of the faeces outside the door to our apartment block did not look like dog mess :shock:

From the French Govt' Tourism Office in London, no response.

From the Mayor's office in VT, a letter telling me, all about how they were very happy with the way things were and would not be changing anything, especially the Cabinet Medical and piste rescue services operation.

From the Ski Area Mgmt, a letter calling my OH a liar for him saying he saw a member of their staff ski away on my skis just as he was going to pick them up at the accident scene. So, we are supposed to believe that the ski of choice for a VT pisteur is a Women's Rossi Bandit Light, yeah right :roll:

That really is a sad tale, and quite unbelievable response. Do you think its VTG specific or more a French kind of attitude?
I really struggle to imagine things like the faeces outside your door. Never in my life, apart from a stag weekend in Manchester, have I experienced anything like this whilst on a trip anywhere. This is the 21st century and it is not in a 3rd world country. I do not understand some poeple, ie those that felt it necesary to pooh by your door. I am quite shocked, and that takes something for me!

VT had never appealed to me or my family for the very reasons you guys are talking about.....the alcohol culture in many resorts is the reason I started driving to the alps, I refuse to accept and sit near people being sick in the transfer coach due to excessive alcohol consumption. :evil: :evil: :evil:

I can never understand why people would want to go to a ski resort to drink excessively. I mean, one can get drunk at home. Why waste valuable ski-ing time because you're too hungover to get up in the morning? Plus, of course, I'm sure drunk skiers on the slopes are just as much of a hazard to themselves and everyone else as drunk drivers.

Ally

Ally, I'm guessing that I received no apology, because the resort operators could not understand why I was unhappy with their services. they are happy, so that is enough. I suggest that in offering an online Customer Feedback Form, the resort is meeting a requirement for service measurement (ISO 9001, IiP (french version) etc) It's input based, in that they will have ticked a box as a success by offering a form for completion. It's a Happy Sheet, and carries no influence.

The woman who ran into me was Dutch (so I'm told). She sustained a cut finger, and after we were both interviewed by a Gendarme, I was invited to bring charges for assault against her. I declined as the law is not well defined in France for these type of incidents. I believe that she was in shock as I'm told she was hysterical afterwards.
My collar bone took 16 weeks to heal, and still hurts periodically. I still have a displaced Acromion joint from the accident. The Cabinet Medical in VT told me 4 weeks to heal. My local UK Trauma Clinic advised 3 months when I was seen on arrival in the UK.

Tony, my insurer was well versed with this resort and it's "nice little earner" medical services. From reading I have done, mostly these sort of problems seem confined France, fortunately. The clientele in a resort dictate events in any week. I would say, that VT, IME attracts large parties of yobs. I hope they keep going back, as they are easier to avoid that way.